Heater-Ferris F-4S: VF-301

[Old Viper Tester]

Both the US Navy and US Air Force experimented with camouflage schemes created by aviation artist Keith Ferris, but none of these schemes saw widespread operational service. Lt Commander Chuck "Heater" Heatley of the Naval fighter Weapons School proposed a modification to the Ferris scheme. At first adding a false canopy on the bottom of the the aircraft. Later, simplifying the pattern from the "splinter" pattern associated with the Ferris schemes, running the various shades of grey across the entire aircraft.

 

Despite the Navy findings that the "Heater-Ferris" scheme was not only effective in making visual detection more difficult, but also determining the attitude and direction of the aircraft, only two fighter units adopted the scheme: VF-302 (Stallions) applied the scheme first, then VF-301 (Devil's Disciples) applied the scheme in a mirror image of their sister squadron. VF-301 began applying the scheme in late 1982 and kept it until they turned in their Phantoms for F-14As in 1984.

 

I've only seen a few images of VF-302 in Heater-Ferris, but I did get some 'happy snaps' of VF-301 in 1983...

 

153904 ND106

 

155749 ND110 - MiG Killer

 

 

155856 ND111

 

 

 

155878 ND100

 

155893 ND107. Note the progression of the greys is reversed on this airframe. It was later changed to match the rest of the squadron, starting with dark grey at the nose progressing to light are at the tail:

 

And a US Navy image by Bruce Trombecky. 155542 ND103 and 153874 ND104

 

According to US Navy sources, the colors are: FS35164, FS35237, FS36307, and the ever popular FS36375.

 

Other aircraft in VF-301 around this time: 153814 (ND101), 153824 (ND102), 153884 (ND105), and 155873 (ND112).

 

Hasegawa released this kit about six years ago. I've got one in the stash. What am I waiting for?

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

Edited July 1, 2019 by Old Viper Tester
typos

[modelling minion]

Another great set of pics Sven.

It really was a great camo scheme, it's a shame it wasn't continued.

Amazing how different the colours look in differing lighting conditions.

[CT7567]

5 hours ago, Old Viper Tester said:

According to US Navy sources, the colors are: FS35164, FS35237, FS35307, and the ever popular FS35375.

Looks like a typo on the two lighter colors if I'm not mistaken - should be FS 36307 and 36375 (officially grays, vs the darker shades being blues).

 

I've loved this scheme since I first saw Heater's photos of it on a one-off VF-1 Tomcat in the book The Cutting Edge. At least one NFWS (aka Topgun)  F-5E also wore it, in addition to some Marine Reserve F-4Ss (VMFA-321 and VMFA-235).

 

In addition to Hasegawa's boxing, the Italeri 1/72 F-4S includes a VF-301 bird. Aftermarket decals were done in 1/48 by Afterburner:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/afterburner-decals-48-051-ferris-phantoms--145329

[Old Viper Tester]

1 hour ago, CT7567 said:

Looks like a typo on the two lighter colors if I'm not mistaken - should be FS 36307 and 36375 (officially grays, vs the darker shades being blues)

Good catch - corrected.

[F-32]

Wonderful!

[giemme]

22 hours ago, Old Viper Tester said:

Hasegawa released this kit about six years ago. I've got one in the stash. What am I waiting for?

Exactly! And I'm jealous!

 

Ciao